Act of War: Direct Action
Act of War: Direct Action is a real-time strategy game developed by Eugen Systems and published by Atari. The game is based on the Command & Conquer concept of modern warfare RTS. The game was released in March of 2005, and features a detailed story written by Dale Brown, a retired captain of the US Air Force and a bestselling author. Previews of the game have so far garnered mostly positive reviews. The game includes a combination of pre-rendered cut-scenes and over an hour of live action film. Live action was shot in Montreal, Canada during the summer of 2004. Pre-rendered cut-scenes were done using machinima technique, wherein one person plays while being recorded from different angles (with all interface elements hidden). The recorded video is then postprocessed and provided with sound effects and dialog. Act of War features many new gameplay elements, including heavily wounded soldiers being immobilised and unable to engage in combat until they can be reached by medical help, the ability to take prisoner of war, buildings that are realistically destructible, and the ability to create barricades. Act of War did not add many innovative concepts to the RTS genre, and its most prominent gameplay feature was balance. Unlike most RTS games in which some units are massed and are used almost exclusively over other units for an easy victory, Act of War required you to use practically every unit available, which allowed for great gameplay diversity. The pre-patched version of the game had an issue of the "Sell-all BTR rush", where the player sells everything they have except for one building to make BTR-80s. However, Eugen and Atari released a patch that fixed this issue and is now mostly balanced. A minority of players say that Consortium is now underpowered. Plot Act of war is set in what is only referred to as "a near future" where a crippling energy economy has forced gas prices to over $7 a gallon. The game begins when an oil facility in Houston is destroyed by a terrorist bombing one week before the "World Energy Forum" in London. Concerned with the possibility of an attack at the Energy Forum aswell, the national security advisor is granted permission to activate "Task Force Talon", an elite platoon of soldiers that is unknown to the public, to guard the World Energy Forum. The plot thickens when a major terrorist operation occurs in San Francisco, which results in the US government ordering a full troop recall in order to fight off any further attacks. In the singleplayer, there is only one campaign to play through which effectivley puts you in the role of Army Major Jason Richter, where you command the forces of the US army and Task Force Talon around the world and eventually in Washington D.C. Factions US army (USA or US): In Act of War: Direct Action, the United States is being attacked by an enemy force called the Consortium, whose agenda is unknown. Bascically the United States is the convientional war machine with familliar units like the AH-64 Apache, Delta Force, Humvee, M1 Abrams main battle tank and other real-life vehicles including artillery units.They also have massive airpower with the greatest variety of planes and helicopters as well as the most upgrades for specialized roles. For example, the F-15 can only attack other air units but it's the best anti-air unit in the game. One of their weakness may be that they are a bit bottled down by Defcon procedures. Climbing to Defcon level 2 requires $5,000, and to attain Defcon 1 requires $4,500 (making $9,500 all together to fully research the technology tree.) Notable units for this side is the B2 Spirit and the M1 Abrams main battle tank. Task Force Talon (TFT or TF): Task Force Talon is a direct action team put together to carry out almost anything from search-and-destroy assaults to hostage extractions, to simple reconnaissance missions. They are employed by the United States to counter the unknown enemy that calls themselves the Consortium, which fights in unconventional means. Talon has access to all information from all agencies, as well as all technology, be it experimental, classified or even officially "non-exsistant". All members of Task force Talon are handpicked as the best of the best from all branches of the US army, and are equipped with the most modern, high-tech equipment avaliable. Task Force Talon focuses more on versitility than the United States Army. For example, a recon buggy can be upgraded with rockets to make it a decent air counter as well as a scout unit, and whereas the US F-15 only can fire Air to Air missiles, the TFT Joint Strike Fighter F-35 can fire air to air missiles aswell as provide very effective bombing raids. As opposed to the US Defcon levels, TFT has two seperate upgrades which can be researched in any order, the DRONE tech, and the SHIELD tech. While the SHIELD upgrade initially gives defensive capabilities like Healing and Repairing, it eventually gives access to build the Mjolnir Super-Heavy Howitzer, Talon's tactical superweapon. And while the DRONE tech focuses more on increasing offensive capabilities, by giving access to a Spinner command center as well as Airstrike capabilities, it eventually grants access to build the "Guardian Drone Ballistic Defense", a building which deploys anti tactical/superweapon capabilities. One weakness is that TALON's units and upgrades are very expensive. This means that losing too many units early in an online game could quickly decide the outcome of the battle. Notable units for this side is the S.H.I.E.L.D. unit, an infantry wearing a robotic exoskeleton suit, and the Spinner drone, a remote controlled robot tank. Consortium (CST, CS or Consort): The Consortium is a group of oil companies and terrorists group bent on creating an oil monopoly. Not much else known about the Consortium nor if there are underlying motives other than wealth. The Consortium operates in two modes, "Undercover" and "Revealed". In Undercover mode, the Consortium resorts to bribing mercenaries, terrorists and possibly even certain governments into doing their dirty work, relying more on massing "low-quality" units for a low price rather than having a few strong ones. Notable units are the standard AK-74 infantry unit and various weapon systems from Russia and other countries of the world. In revealed mode, the true extent of their power is revealed. Ironic as it may be, in "revealed" mode almost all units have "stealth" capabilities. When in revealed mode, the consortium gains access to building high tech experimental units like YF-23 Black Widow II stealth planes, Akula stealth tanks and highly trained Optical-Camo soldiers. Their trademark weapon is their tactical weapon, the "Falling Star", a project originally started by the US government, in which a communications array forces satellites to fall upon a targeted area. It can be upgraded with ebola, causing more injuries to infantry units. Consortium is considered a somewhat hard side to play, seeing as it requires good use of almost all avaliable units and abilites, therefore, there are almost no new players playing Consortium. Cheats The cheats for Act of War: Direct Action are: *yeepeekaye - Randomly creates the effects of either the superweapons Falling Star (Satellite Drop), Wolverine Cruise Missile (Nuclear Explosion), or the Mjolnir Super-Heavy Howitzer (Artillery Bombardment) *greenjelly - Spawn a British policeman *ymca - Spawn a U.S. policeman *swatatyourorders - spawn S.W.A.T. *motherrussia - Spawn a T-80 tank *coolihaveanewcar - Spawn a CIA car *coolimthepresident - Spawn the President *fortknox - Gain $1000 *bringoutthedead - Spawn a British ambulance *keyholemaster - Reveal entire map *ineedalltechnos - Unlimited money and entire tech tree unlocked To use these cheats, press enter and type in the cheat code listed above. Press enter again to activate. External links *Official site The Expansion There is a expansion pack in the works called Act of War: High Treason. Plot details are unknown. There is a trailer that can be downloaded at filefront.com. Community sites *Gamereplays.org *ActofWar.info *forum.ActofWar.info *AOWmaps.net *AOWfiles.co.uk *Planet AoW (German) *AoW Files Category:2005 computer and video games Category:Real-time strategy computer games Category:Windows games fa:بازی رایانه‌ای Act of War fr:Act of War: Direct Action